Last stages of war, Darusman’s laxity and UNP’s hopes

A A M Nizam in Colombo

The veteran Sinhala journalist Wasantha Priya Ramanayake in his
weekly article for the Sinhala daily ‘Lankadeepa’ has come up with the
last days of the humanitarian operation carried out by the Sri Lankan
security forces, compassion shown by the Sri Lankan security forces to
the Soosai’s family, as well as to the family of Thamilselvan, parents
of Velupillai Prabhakaran, and many other LTTE leaders, several hundreds
of Black Tiger suicide cadres, and the failure of controversial Darusman
Panel to comment on these events and the UNP leader Ranil
Wickremesinghe’s double standard during the war and on the controversial
Darusman Report.

Captioning his article as ‘A trap of the opposition’ he vividly and
superbly narrates in the article details of many events relating to the
last stages of the war, and the hopes held by the Opposition UNP to come
to power through the defeat of Sri Lankan forces by the LTTE.

Brighter future for IDP children.
Picture by Chaminda Hittatiya

Given below is the full text of the article rendered into English.

It did not take much time for the Sri Lankan Navy to identify that
the boat that was sailing in the deep sea was a suspicious boat. When it
was further observed using the powerful surveillance equipment the Navy
possessed, it was found that there were even children in the boat. They
then came to the conclusion that it was a boat belonging to a group who
were fleeing from the country. However, Captain of the Naval Unit gave a
strict order not to shoot at the fleeing boat and capture those on board
somehow.

Speed boats went into operation and the naval detachment finally
became capable of rounding up and seizing the fleeing boat. It was after
everyone was disembarked from this fleeing boat the Navy Unit found that
it was the family of the LTTE Sea Tiger Wing Chief Soosai’s family who
were fleeing.

If the Navy would have opened fire at Soosai’s wife and his children,
they would have died. They were fleeing in this manner with bundles of
currency notes and several kilograms of Gold, to somehow save their
lives, while Soosai was in the battlefront. It was Soosai who had
ordered them to flee.

Naval Unit

When they were questioned where Soosai was, they revealed that he was
in the battlefront in Pudumathalan. When asked whether he was not
coming, they said that he will not come. The Captain of the Naval Unit
then asked his wife whether he was still fighting the Sri Lanka’s forces
she replied in the affirmative.

Then the Captain told her to ask him to come and surrender without
being foolish. He gave his mobile phone to Soosai’s wife as requested
her to speak to Soosai and ask him to come. But he did not come. His
decision was not changed.

If Soosai came on that day he will be alive today. Finally Soosai’s
family members were treated well by the Naval officers and after
offering them food and whatever they wanted they were handed over to a
detention camp.

The wife of Thamilselvan and his children also came in this manner.
They came with ordinary displaced people and sought protection in a
detention camp. Prabhakaran’s mother and father, and several LTTE
leaders including the media spokesman Rasiah Ilantherian, Daya Master
were also surrendered to the Sri Lankan forces during the humanitarian
operation and settled in the detention camps.

None of these facts, the real truths, are included in the
controversial Darusman Report. It was our soldiers who provided medical
treatment to Black Tiger suicide cadre boys and girls, and provided all
humanitarian requirements during the humanitarian operation. There is no
doubt the visuals relating to these humanitarian activities were watched
by many thousands the world over through TV channels.

Compassionate soldiers

Darusman has not seen about 300,000 who came in this manner, some
only dressed in rags and some carrying whatever they could take
possession and how they were treated humanitarianly and with compassion
by our soldiers. But they included in their report things we have never
seen and we cannot believe. Their report did not include any good things
done by our compassionate soldiers or the government. It is due to this
that controversial Darusman Report can be termed as an incomplete
misleading one.

We can never expect such a thing from Darusman and his ilk. No one
believes that a humanitarian operation of this magnitude ended so
peacefully. There could have been some mistakes.

Ultimately even our Foreign Ministry has also failed to present a
detailed white paper on this humanitarian operation. If there was a
detailed white paper on the humanitarian operation our friendly nations
today would have had documentary proof to challenge the controversial
Darusman Report.

International community

Due to this lapse the international community has only the
controversial Darusman Report whether it is right or wrong. This is not
a pleasant status when there is strong international force against Sri
Lanka. It is due to this reason we say that a country’s foreign relation
matters should be handled by persons who are not self centred and
arrogant. We still do have talented people who are experienced in
handling matters relating to foreign relations. It seems that these
omniscient do not know the art of getting their assistance at times of
need.

Even during the 4th Eelam war President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the
government got isolated at certain times. The Opposition was waiting for
an opportunity to capitalize on the infight of the government. They were
waiting to come to power over that.

Main issues

That is why they questioned whether our forces were going to
Medawachchiya by saying that they were going to Kilinochchi. That is why
they denigrated the march to Alimankada (Elephant Pass) to that of going
to Pamankada. For them Thoppigala was just a ‘jungle area’. The speech
made by the Opposition leader in Galle disparaging the Toppigala victory
clearly showed their objectives. There was no such thing from the
American leaders in their operations against bin Laden. Clinton of the
Democratic Party did not ask George Bush of the Republican Party whether
he did it or not. What Barak Obama terminated last week was carrying
forward the fight started by George Bush.

After Bush the fight was finished by Obama not by blaming Bush for
his lapses. Bush did not ask Obama why he went to Pakistan in search of
bin Laden saying that they were going to Afghanistan. Therefore we
cannot compare what happened in America with what happened in Sri Lanka.

During the fourth Eelam War our Opposition got split. When the
opinion being held by the Opposition leader and his close supporters
about the war was not acceptable, the deputy leader of the party Karu
Jayasuriya and a group of several others joined the government to
strengthen the government. The group including Sajith Premadasa got
isolated. After the war Karu Jayasuriya went back to the UNP.

Obama informing about bin Laden’s death to Bush is correct. Both main
political parties of America had taken the identical stand on main
issues. We did not have this culture in the fourth Eelam war because of
Ranil Wickremesinghe and his group.

This same UNP leader is presently attempting to place the government
in trouble even on the controversial Darusman Report. The stand of the
government is to totally reject the controversial Darusman Report and
not to respond to it.

But the Opposition leader says that strong responses should be made
at appropriate times. What the US Asst. Secretary of State Robert
O’Blake who visited our country recently said is almost similar to what
Ranil Wickremesinghe says.

Joint statement

The Ranil-Blake meeting took place before Ranil Wickremesinghe made
this statement. If the government went to make a response that
government would plainly get into Moon’s action.

If we respond as Ranil says that other side will also present counter
claims. Ultimately this correspondence and the report could end up in a
trap of the United Nation’s observation panel. We do not know that Ranil
may be thinking that by these methods the government will land in a
muddle. Ranil is an expert in such games.

The Opposition leader says that the government has got entrapped in
quandary with the controversial Darusman report and says that it is the
biggest issue faced by the country after India violated our air space
and dropped ‘Parippu’ in the North.

However, he is not willing to sign a joint statement even at this
time. It seems that he is dodging the issue. These days he is in Bhutan.
The government may have thought that they could issue a joint statement
with the signature of the Opposition leader. Normally any country
expects such a joint stand on major issues. But we do not know that
whether Ranil is thinking that because of this report that the
government will get isolated internationally, it will get economic
sanctions imposed on it, thereby it will become weak and will fall down.

Political culture

The political culture of our country has been framed in a despicable
manner to consolidate the power gained by all means and to get back the
power lost even by externally initiated moves such as controversial
Darusman Report.

Therefore our political parties are yet equal to undeveloped embryos.
Other than any other person the behaviour of Ranil in similar incidents
like this is very special. It may be his talent to mislead and misuse
the international lobbies. In indulging in politics this should be
understood.

He should not be underestimated. Therefore, may the God’s blessing be
on those who recently were feeling happy about Ranil Wickremesinghe
being in the position of leader of the Opposition.

It is better even at this late stage to announce to the world through
a white paper about the humanitarian operation carried out at the last
stages of the war. This is not an advice that would entrap the
government.

After that a political mechanism could be evolved for the problems in
the North based on the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and the
Reconciliation Commission. It seems that the international forces are
trying to push the government to that position.

In the meantime some sections in the government are trying to compare
President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Venezeulan President Hugo Chavez and
the Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gadaffi. These are attempts to further
antagonize the West.

This is a completely wrong move. If the comparison was made to at
least with the Evo Moralez of Bolivia it could have been better. People
who made this type of comparisons consist in all governments. It is
difficult to say whether they do it honestly or with some other motives.
In the past when such persons were identified as CIA Agents the
governments they represented were no more.